broken hip recovery advice needed...............
Comments
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13 weeks since my 16kph two-wheel slide on a slippy/slimy road - neck of femur displaced subcapital fracture - didn't hurt when i landed and still no pain anywhere after landing, unless i moved my leg, then it bloody hurt, tried to stand on it, that hurt too, a lot
acquired mild hypothermia waiting for the ambulance but was in a&e within 90 mins of impact, rapid xray after which they told me i had a broken hip and needed an immediate op, but there was a risk it would need replacing (due to avn, which i'd not heard of before), they said it was worth risking based on my fitness/health, phew! i'm 55 and got the impression that someone sedentary might just get a replacement in the same circumstances
straight to op where they put in three cannulated screws and sealed the hole with sticky tape, an advantage of being firm and svelte perhaps: no need for stitches or clips
followed by six weeks of no weight allowed, xray showed still not healed enough so then another seven weeks of just 10% weight allowed, well my leg weighs that! all with no exercise allowed beyond the oap-style ones
bit my tongue and went with it on the basis i'd rather give it time if it reduces the chance of failure
so it's been a long three months, off work (luckily there's excellent sick leave with full pay for first 6 months) though i dabbled in emails, spring cycling holiday plans abandoned, had to move out of my place due to stairs and danger of death, no cycling/walking/running/etc., dependent others, and the nagging worry of avn developing followed by another operation to chop it off and replace, then even more rehab etc.
in my copious spare time i read a lot (mostly particle physics, finally ramming the standard model and wave equations into my head), including lots about broken hips, there's a dearth of information relating to younger patients, but i came across this which left me feeling much more positive...
http://www.ijoonline.com/text.asp?2008/42/1/3/38574
...you can download the full article for free, for the average br patient i think it's more applicable than the much more common old-age related info
today's xray showed things looking good
a little bone gone but may fill in over time, so i'm finally allowed to ramp up to full weight over the next four weeks and abandon crutches as soon as i'm able
mustn't carry too much for now, but should able to carry without limit by three months - i'd explained my backpack etc. can be 35kg, plus if i then pick up the bike box it's pretty much my body weight
xray every six months for a while to check for any sign of problems
so then i asked for physio...
him - no way
me - way
him - no, no way
me - bupa, yes way
him - way
...so just waiting for his letter then i'm going to iseh for the works, i hope this will get me back to normal asap
already got lanzarote booked for cycling/sunning trip in september, just hope i can still get up the hill to femes ok!
there was a plus side...
the kindness of two strangers who helped me in the road, took my shiny bike into their home to keep safe for me (Bruno), and persuaded the 999 call centre that i really did need an ambulance (Michael)
the ambulance crew were great (explaining they wanted to take me to kings college hospital even though it was further as it was the best place to go if it was my hip), as were all the people at kch where they put me back together and fed me surprisingly tasty food for a few days until i was ejectedmy bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
No NHS physio?
I had a referral within a week and an appointment the next to check range if movement, 3 cannulated screws here also.
Since week 6 I've had physio every week and this Friday I start another 6 week physio course, all NHS.Colnago Master Olympic
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i assumed they were being cautious until it was looking ok, i'd asked at 6 weeks but they wanted me to do no more than the basics, they said not even light stuff, the callus was not fully formed yet, also cross-checked with gf's physio who said i better stick to instructions
maybe healing slow? maybe my age? or budget? or just different by area?
but today i was surprised when he didn't propose any physio which is why i pushed
anyway, it's history, now i look forward
a few days to get things working ok and then...
...i ride!
/ very carefullymy bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
Half way through hydro thing's going OK get good days and bad days but must say swimming is a god send just bought my new poc hip protectors ready for getting back on the bike I find the cold makes things more painful and just started to drink lots of beetroot as it helps with circulation how's it going with everyone else0
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two weeks since being allowed to put weight on it, i'm still using one crutch for stairs/outside, i can limp around ok without it, but still need to build back strength for a natural step
had a gentle ride two days ok, just 40 easy minutes, the clipping-in reflex wasn't working on that leg but it's coming back now, did a bit longer/harder yesterday, off for another one today
riding is much easier than walking, no pain or twinges so far which is good, hope it stays that way
can really feel the lost flexibility/fitness, but it'll come back i'm suremy bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
sungod wrote:two weeks since being allowed to put weight on it, i'm still using one crutch for stairs/outside, i can limp around ok without it, but still need to build back strength for a natural step
had a gentle ride two days ok, just 40 easy minutes, the clipping-in reflex wasn't working on that leg but it's coming back now, did a bit longer/harder yesterday, off for another one today
riding is much easier than walking, no pain or twinges so far which is good, hope it stays that way
can really feel the lost flexibility/fitness, but it'll come back i'm sure
My surgeon wouldn't allow me one crutch or a stick. He said it would cause more issues with my gait and so I went from 2 crutches to nothing. You won't walk normally for a good while, so don't expect to. I was maybe 18 months until my tread felt normal although that was maybe my issues with the screws.chris0 -
trouble is the three months of no weight left my leg really weak, plus whatever the effect of the operation was on the muscles etc.
it took about 8-9 days before i could manage a step without a crutch, otherwise my knee just gave way - i started some gentle exercise on the cycling machine and step machine in the gym which helped build up to that
tbh even with the crutch i'm just so thankful to be mobile again!my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
My physio told me off for dropping the crutches too early, as you'll get into bad habits and compensate for the lack of strength by dragging the bad leg around or limping!
I've been doing my advanced physio circuit for two weeks now and leave knackered, also doing a spin bike session in the garage every other day.
Limp has gone and strength is coming back.Colnago Master Olympic
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at around 4months sleep is still difficult on one side is this going to be the norm still no bike outings yet next x ray is in July so fingers crossed I can get back on it then :-)0
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had my first physio session today
gait is pretty good with one crutch to take a bit of weight off, but still a rolling limp without it
have a set of exercises to build up strength/stability, including one 'to exhaustion' which is, well, exhausting
can ride as much as i like, just not allowed to fall off/crash/etc.
no running/jumping/weights
i've lost about 3cm thigh circumference vs. the good leg, not too bad, the lower leg unaffected, but the muscle at the top/side of hip is weak, a couple of the exercises target this
back next week, exercises will be ramped up as i progress
he reckons c. 6 months to get back to pre-break condition, though flexibility may not be as good for longer or maybe ever
i can lay on my side for a while without pain, but eventually i need to move as it starts feeling uncomfortable; i noticed i can go longer as time goes on, he said this may improve as the muscle builds back
i have noticed that with my fingers lightly touching i can feel muscle/whatever 'strumming' over the screw heads as i walk, i'm not getting any pain from this so far but wonder how it'll be as i ramp up activity, anyone else had experience of this? i know drummer had trouble due to them backing out, but so far i think mine are stablemy bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
Hi All,
Here is my resume of my broken hip.
I'm 44, broke my hip 10 months ago, 3 screws.
Left hospital after 6 days.
Physio started on first day.
10% pressure on hip at 6 weeks.
Started walking without crutches at 8-9 weeks and back on stationary bike.
Back at work after 3 months.
98 days after accident, first time on bike on the roads.
Started back skiing after 5 months.
Started back windsurfing after 6 months.
Got tendinitis in the hip at 7 months.
Last physio session after 8 months.
Bursitis on the hip at 9 months, after a 170km week of cycling, so may have to go back to physio.
Currently allowed 5 hours of sport per week by my doctors, so 100-150km.
Had an AVN scare at month 8, had MRI and seems to be ok but not 100% sure.
Doctors say that pain will continue due to screws.
I am back in the gym, pool, etc...
Currently I would say that I am at 90% of my speed/form for a 40-50km ride.
Club riding will have to wait till next year after screws out.
Rode le Col de la Madone d'Utelle last weekend and enjoyed it.
Next meeting with doctors and surgeons is in September to discuss removing the screws but surgeon is more for later while doctor is more for sooner.1 -
joem84 wrote:Hi All,
Here is my resume of my broken hip.
I'm 44, broke my hip 10 months ago, 3 screws.
Left hospital after 6 days.
Physio started on first day.
10% pressure on hip at 6 weeks.
Started walking without crutches at 8-9 weeks and back on stationary bike.
Back at work after 3 months.
98 days after accident, first time on bike on the roads.
Started back skiing after 5 months.
Started back windsurfing after 6 months.
Got tendinitis in the hip at 7 months.
Last physio session after 8 months.
Bursitis on the hip at 9 months, after a 170km week of cycling, so may have to go back to physio.
Currently allowed 5 hours of sport per week by my doctors, so 100-150km.
Had an AVN scare at month 8, had MRI and seems to be ok but not 100% sure.
Doctors say that pain will continue due to screws.
I am back in the gym, pool, etc...
Currently I would say that I am at 90% of my speed/form for a 40-50km ride.
Club riding will have to wait till next year after screws out.
Rode le Col de la Madone d'Utelle last weekend and enjoyed it.
Next meeting with doctors and surgeons is in September to discuss removing the screws but surgeon is more for later while doctor is more for sooner.
Hi Joe, my surgeon said the minimum for screw removal is 12 months.... but made me wait 18 months to be safe. Maybe that was because of my osteoporosis??
Anyway, once you get the screws out the difference really is like night & day if they are causing you a problem.chris0 -
Thanks Drummer, looking forward to having the screws out
At the moment have little niggly pain in the hip (and in the crease) and dead leg now and then but most of the time it is ok. Fingers crossed!0 -
Well last week I took the plunge and hit the road again, I did two 13 mile rides during the week and then on Sunday went out on my first club ride since my fall, managed 34 miles but boy did it take it out of me!
Just back from a nice sunny evening 20 miles too 8)
Still attending physio circuit on a Friday afternoon and have another assessment from the physio in a few weeks, 6 month X-ray 14th July too.Colnago Master Olympic
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Enjoy it, it'll not be long until you're back up among the big miles. It was 6 weeks after my hip replacement that I ventured out on my bike, done the Grand Fondo (117 miles) last Sunday over here in Belfast.0
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Had my 6 months check all OK consultant said I can do all things x ray looking very good done two 20 mile rides still get pain when tried hip shorts work a treat and no sign of avn hopefully going to start physio in the gym :-)got a new bed to help with sleep0
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Screws are now...... OUT!
Progress report later......
apologies if i missed it in another post...
what was the removal operation and post-op like? i.e. is it zonked out, a big cut and in-patient; or local, keyhole, back home in time for dinner, how long to heal/recover etc.
...i ask as while i'm not getting much problem so far, i've been aware of the screws since early on, and just maybe am feeling them more than i used to, so thinking ahead about if/when i might be able to have them removedmy bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
I qualified for the top bit of the DHS when I broke my femur twelve weeks ago. Except instead of being a single bolt, it's a double; and it's not attached to the usual plate, but the full-length intramedullary nail (complete with two "pins" at the knee; except they're not pins, they're ruddy 3" chipboard screws, straight out of the bone and into my knee).
I'm allowed to be fully weight-bearing on the broken leg due to the stage my healing has reached (and being non-weight bearing was a PITA), but being allowed to and being able to are two different things. The physiotherapist is really pleased with my progress, but I can't support my own weight on that leg despite all the exercises I've done for the past ten weeks. I have got onto a recumbent exercise bike, and I've been able to work up to doing about an hour on it each day (including some useful single-leg drills), but the broken leg is still really weedy and weak.
Real cycling, out there on the road? Not for the first six months post-op said the surgeon, and as that puts me in
January I'm going to exercise extreme caution and stay indoors until Easter. When I broke the leg, I hit the tarmac HARD, and I don't want to run any risk of a repetition until things are completely knitted back together.
So far it's too early to talk about hardware removal, although I'm in favour of losing it (I can feel the bolts in my hip when I turn over at night); as, I think, is the surgical team who put the rod in my femur. But it's not an easy extraction, and will result in more time spent on crutches while the bone heals from that second surgery.They use their cars as shopping baskets; they use their cars as overcoats.0 -
Hiya pal!
I was in & out in a day. I had a general and the surgeon said afterwards that they had backed out so far that removal was fast & simple!
The operation was so clean that I never had any of the prescribed pain relief. In fact I didn't need to take a thing!
After I healed fast & it took about 8 weeks for the holes to re-calcify but I was back riding straight away really. My surgeons only advice in this period was "whatever you do, don't fall off"....Screws are now...... OUT!
Progress report later......
apologies if i missed it in another post...
what was the removal operation and post-op like? i.e. is it zonked out, a big cut and in-patient; or local, keyhole, back home in time for dinner, how long to heal/recover etc.
...i ask as while i'm not getting much problem so far, i've been aware of the screws since early on, and just maybe am feeling them more than i used to, so thinking ahead about if/when i might be able to have them removedchris0 -
thanks, that's good to here, glad you are doing well now!
i just came back from my cycling hols, great weather, worked mostly on getting back endurance but it's a place where climbing is inevitable the first time i did the steep one up to femes i thought i was going to fail, but managed to force myself through, did it twice more, still far from how i used to go up it, it was always a lowest gear climb but i'd be doing about 45-ish rpm at minimum, lacking strength still i was down to 34 on the steepest section, all seated, maybe should have tried standing
perhaps the biggest improvement i made was mental: getting confidence back to take corners at speed, since the accident i've been extremely cautious/nervous, partly from the "do not crash" warnings from surgeon and physio, but mainly the after effects of the experience, in uk i'd not had roads where i felt comfortable to push, so at the start i was still braking heavily before corners and even at 30kph felt tense, but forced myself to relax and think about correct technique, by the end i was happily gunning through them at 60-70kph as long as i had visibility
just had my first ride back in uk, brrrrrr, it's so cold!my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
Hello fellow hip sufferers
I broke my NOF back in 2012. Bit of a shock as I first though I had just torn a muscle in my groin and only slipped off at 10mph. Anyway, it was quite bad and a compacted break. Had the dynamic repair with 3 screws and used a turbo and sports physio as soon as I could get a leg over a bike.
Few years on and I'm riding pretty strong. Did a decent time in the Pru 100 this year and have decided to train the winter and go back to TT next season.
One thing, does anyone get muscular pain in the thigh/hip that they didn't break? I seem to really suffer with this and have to stretch the flexors and roller constantly.0 -
I suffered a femur neck fracture 3 months ago. I fell in a hail storm on a bend, descending after watching stage 12 of the tour de France in Ariege. Had a DHS fitted but not advised on physio. Just that I should not use my turbo trainer for 6 months as repeated stress can break the DHS!! but I see others here have jumped straight on with out incurring a broken plate/ screw so will do the same. Has anyone out there incurred damage to their hardware? I walk 4kms a day and until last week swam 500m a day (too cold now), but despite that my quad muscle has shrivelled away.0
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Hi All,
Just to keep you up to date, 15 months after the accident, I just had the pins in my hip removed, now back on crutches and able to put some weight on my leg. It is no where near as sore as the first hip operation. I will keep you updated on my progress, next meeting with the surgeon in 2 weeks time.
Joe0 -
I suffered a femur neck fracture 3 months ago. I fell in a hail storm on a bend, descending after watching stage 12 of the tour de France in Ariege. Had a DHS fitted but not advised on physio. Just that I should not use my turbo trainer for 6 months as repeated stress can break the DHS!! but I see others here have jumped straight on with out incurring a broken plate/ screw so will do the same. Has anyone out there incurred damage to their hardware? I walk 4kms a day and until last week swam 500m a day (too cold now), but despite that my quad muscle has shrivelled away.
i'd assume it depends on umpteen factors, plus the preference of the doctor(s) involved
break location, angle, displacement, time between break and surgery, age, health, what x-rays show of healing progress, bone loss, callus formation, etc. etc. etc.
they'll still be x-raying you every so often, ask lots of questions to find out what they think you can/can't do at each stage based on what the x-rays show
i wouldn't base your decisions on what others do, the characteristics of their injury could be very different, their bone size/density could be different, etc.my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
Thanks Sungod. I have taken a calculated risk in starting to use the turbo trainer and have felt the strength coming back. My last xray showed the hip fracture had healed and my surgeon confirmed I did not have osteoporosis. I find using the turbo trainer reduces knee pain ..I suffered a fractured tibial plateau three years ago (skiing) and have arthritis/ damaged cartilage. I was advised by my physiotherapist after that fracture to take up cycling. Aged 57, I got hooked. We live in Tour de France country and I felt so chuffed to climb all the major Tour de France cols this year, not particularly fast, but I did it.
Cycling for me, unlike walking, is a pain free exercise (almost). I think my surgeon was being conservative as he had seen a patient with a broken DHS the previous week, but that was unrelated to cycling. I don't plan on cycling fast or in wet conditions again, or getting back on the road before January. I just have this fear that if I don't start using my turbo trainer now I might never regain the muscles/stamina. So taking the risk. My next appointment with the surgeon will be twelve months post surgery to remove the hardware which seems to be fairly standard in France.0 -
hope all goes well
since the injury in early february i'm coming up for my 6 months' check since they told me i could try walking, after 3+ months of no weight allowed i was cycling again as soon as i could hobble without crutches, maybe 10 days, it felt soooooo good, being able to walk a reasonable distance unaided took weeks longer
btw i've not got dhs, i have three screws in mine
similar age to you, i'm still missing about 10% low-end and much more high-end power, the physio gets tougher every couple of weeks and i'm now at the stage where i really can start building strength again, but it's a long process
if you've not got a physio, ask them when you can start applying weight without restriction - for me it was 3 months after being allowed to walk (6 months from injury)
at about that time i'd booked a cycling holiday, did 1200km of rides over three weeks, the first 100km ride wiped me out, but a couple of weeks later i could go much further without feeing it, i'm finding endurance is coming back much faster than power/strength
if you're like me, you'll need to do gym work to get back stength, cycling does not generate enough load, and it doesn't create necessary impact to strengthen bone (lots of stairs is a good thing, even if you only go down them)
aside from squats and jumps etc. i'm currently doing one-leg presses of about 85% body weight to exhaustion (physio says the correct weight means not being able to finish the final set of 3 x 10-12 reps each leg) and over the next few months should build up to much higher weight
it's not fast and it's certainly not easy, but the progress helps stay motivatedmy bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
Hi All,
Just to keep you up to date, 15 months after the accident, I just had the pins in my hip removed, now back on crutches and able to put some weight on my leg. It is no where near as sore as the first hip operation. I will keep you updated on my progress, next meeting with the surgeon in 2 weeks time.
Joe
Did you ask to have the pins removed? My consultant said they stay in unless there is a problem.0 -
i've asked physio etc., by default they leave screws in, but removal is more common if you're active or if they're causing pain/discomfort
the reason to remove if you're active seems to be that if you suffer another injury with screws in, they can complicate things - get bent and/or bone shatters around them - which may leave no option other than chopping the whole lot off and fitting an artificial onemy bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
i've asked physio etc., by default they leave screws in, but removal is more common if you're active or if they're causing pain/discomfort
the reason to remove if you're active seems to be that if you suffer another injury with screws in, they can complicate things - get bent and/or bone shatters around them - which may leave no option other than chopping the whole lot off and fitting an artificial one
In France, it seems to be nearly normal to remove the screws between 12-18 months after they are put in, reason given to me was they do not know the side effects of leaving them in.0 -
